One of the most requested features is to have an easier way to create custom reports.

Though TF has some great Standard Reports, and a really powerful VBA-Excel custom reporting tool. We’ve been investigating ways to make it easier to create custom reports.

The new Report Designer that will be in Preview form, debuts at ASMS 2013.

The learning curve is low, because it looks and feels like Microsoft Excel . Yet it is powerful, because you can do many the same special functions as Microsoft Excel.

Even if the Report Designer doesn’t have quite the feature you need, but Excel does, simply open the template in Excel from within the Designer. There you can make edits and save the template.

When you use the Excel edited template to create reports those edits are used.

As stated previously, this is a PREVIEW. This means that anyone can use the designer, but it is not a final commercial version.

If you wish to use it for reporting data, as with any custom report template, YOU must validate that the report template generates the correct information.

We will be looking for feedback on issues found or features to be added. Starting soon there will be a page on mytracefinder.com just for the Designer, where updates and feedback will be available.

Below is a video of how to use the Report Designer to create a simple report from a blank page.

The Report Designer uses the data from the currently opened Batch of Samples and results to model the data. This allows you to see exactly what the final report will look like when it’s produced within the application.

The video is a bit longer than usual but shows how simple it is to create a report which uses special features, such as formulas and conditional formating.

If the video is blurry please click the cog wheel at the bottom of the panel and increase the video display resolution.